Silent Lions – The Compartments

Silent Lions
The Compartments
Nah Collective
★★

There is a confusion involved when a band tries to mix the gritty production of Detroit soul with power rock. Sometimes, you think they are doing it to sound more like a garage rock band. Sometimes, you wonder if it’s just to amplify the charged elements of their more intense rock moments. Maybe, it’s a little of both. But to be categorized as a neo soul band, my suspicion is that Silent Lions try to add this production filter to give props to the classics of soul and their raw internal texture to some of the more amazing songs in music history. But this is no James Shorter album, nor does it come close to it.

However, where The Compartments lie is nowhere near that. The sound on “Runnin’ Me Down,” tends to often sound overproduced with a band trying way too hard. On The Compartments I don’t feel like I am getting the natural sound the Silent Lions are capable of making.

Silent Lions – Stolen in the Heat of the Moment

The beat that palpitates on “Stolen in the Heat of the Moment” sounds more like a drum that is rattling around inside a washing machine than effectual. The echo effect on the vocals make for psychedelic dreaminess, but one or the other. Let’s not overdo it.

“Condition” is the best chance we get on this EP. The song primarily is stripped down to their bare soul of this band, and in turn, it sounds really enticing. When the full band comes in and they are beating the shit out of their instruments, the sweat is rolling down the face, and pure emotion seeps through, you wonder where this has been all along. Everything seems to fit in the right place here. I just wish there was more consistency with that throughout the EP.